DIA SPRIGGS was thinking about Re: ADD and ADHD and keyed into 
cyberspace:
DS>Also pycnogenol has proven extemely effective in treating this; some
DS>Calif. drs. have taken children off ritalin totally with the use of
DS>it.  
I posted on this message yesterday. Last evening I found something that 
I wrote about Pycnogenol over a year ago:
As many know, I use a fiberoptic link and have been home sick with 
pneumonia for three weeks. Thus, I have a lot of time on my hands. Also, 
many of you know that I adamantly believe that Anti-oxidants, have no 
demonstrated use in the treatment of ADHD. Well, I decided I should 
really do a search and learn more about it. Some accuse me of being 
"narrow minded". I tried to approach this with an open mind.
So I surfed and searched. I found that Pycnogenol's "guru" is a fellow 
by the name of Richard Passwater, Ph. D. I used his name and found 
NOTHING on MEDLINE. However, using ALTAVISTA I got back over a hundred 
hits. Some were duplicates. I also searched on Pycnogenol and found 
several hundred references. I limited it to Pycnogenol and ADHD. Still a 
few hundred. Since I had the time, and nearly instant netpage turning at 
500,000 baud, I read them all. Every single one. 473K worth of 
documents. Very enlightening.
Pycnogenol seems like a pretty good product for about sixty things or 
so, according to Dr. Passwater. he seems to be a pretty straight guy who 
honestly believes in this. For those problems, I'll try it. And let you 
know. I am still a bit skeptical about supplements as there are even 
more studies saying that anti-oxidant supplements do little. Some of his 
articles were clearly written for sales. But, as I said, I'll try it.
However, what I found MOST CURIOUS, was that Dr. Passwater does not 
claim anywhere that it is useful in the treatment of ADHD. In fact, he 
specifically seems to omit any direct reference to treatment of 
conditions such as mental or emotional disorders. He has posted as 
recently as February 26, 1996.
However, the MLM salesmen all claim that it will help. They all do. They 
do not say Dr. Passwater claims that it is a valid treatment for ADHD. 
They are too clever for that. They try to leave the impression that he 
agrees.
Personally, I do not think so.
The MLM salescreeps usually use several scare tactics to "convince" 
people that Ritalin (never methylphenidate, Cylert, DAS, Adderal, etc., 
always the eeeeevil Ritalin) is a bad thing. They use "testimonials".
One of the most commonly used ones is the yarn about the parent who had 
their child taking Ritalin for five (or four or six, it is YOUR choice) 
years and watched their child wither away or grow two heads. (What sort 
of parent would just watch for five years?)
That is the "horrible side effects" lie. While MPH does have several 
side effects listed, they are not common, often mild and disappear in a 
week or two. 
One of the other ones that I particularly like is the growth stunting 
yarn. It usual goes like this, my eight year old is small for his age. 
Both my husband and I (it is rarely the husband doing the testimonial) 
are tall, and our kid is shorter. He seems so small.
[So did mine, until puberty, and now we see eye to eye.]
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Now, we do see many people drop into alt.support.attn-deficit who have 
tried Pycnogenol. Their testimonials are very instructive. They fall 
into two categories:
	1. I used Pycnogenol for my child and saw absolutely no 
response.
	2. I know of this kid who was on Ritalin and his mother put him 
on Pycnogenol and he is now Ritalin free. He had to be weaned off 
Ritalin, first.
1. is personal experience.
2. is baloney. Therapeutic doses of MPH are not addictive. It is not 
personal knowledge.
Watch out for the term "great results". It usually means that someone 
has made a lot of money, or wants a lot of your money.
BTW, I used Pycnogenol for my leg circulation. Years ago, during a 
winter I spent in extreme northern Pakistan, I picked up a touch of 
frostbite. My circulation in my legs is not so good. Pycnogenol is 
supposed to help. I neither received subjective or objective benefit 
from it.
It is only an anti-oxidant. So is Vitamin C. Same chemical action. 
               The Few. The Proud. The Chosen.
                     markprobe@aol.com
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 * CMPQwk #1.4 * UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY
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